The dream of 21st-century man, socks that pair themselves, is almost upon us with special hosiery which can find its mate using only an iPhone, an embedded tag and an RFID reader.
The socks come from Blacksocks, and feature a heat-tolerant RFID tag identifying the pair to which the garment belongs. Sadly the iPhone has no RFID …

COMMENTS

"Astute readers will have noticed that if all one's socks are black, and of the same cut, then surely the maintenance of each relationship isn't important"

Actually no. I used to think like this and brought same style socks for that reason. However as implied by the mention in the article of the apps use of the camera, socks fade, especially black ones, and randomly matching same style black socks will end up with 'pairs' that are very different shades (A slap is waiting for anybody that mentions '50' and 'grey' in reply to this!).

From FaceBook to SockBook

Since most privacy-aware people would never accept carrying an NFC tracking device (e.g. on his ID card/passport), why not devise a way to have the geeks wear them and be proud of them? I wouldn't be surprised if in the near future all kinds of shops gave the socks (or other NFC-enabled clothing items) away as "gifts", since in the long term it would allow the global tracking the owner of the credit card that made the purchase.

An additional benefit is that sock NFC detectors can be embedded in the floor and not be visible. Sniffing socks has acquired a whole new meaning.

First thing Monday morning, I'm going to patent a new generation of shoes lined with tinfoil and gain millions by just licensing the patent!

Pairing socks as a metaphor for intolerance and racism

Anyone that has sorted out the socks after the dryer, they may have noticed that one first picks out the major differences, then the medium differences, finally the most tiny and subtle of differences. Humans tend to interact with each other in the same manner.